Are you confident you have the right reach to the bars for your body and riding style? ie. the combo of (effective) top tube & stem length.

It's a whole lot easier process to swap just a stem, than to have to go all through the hoo-har of swapping shifters, brake levers as well as the stem to replicate similar fit on a drop bar, with everything else being equal on the same bike.

Come to think of it, you could even try different styles of drops - they have their own reach length, width and drop height to the lower portion.

Eitherway - going to a flat bar straight away will mean a lot more than just the bar itself requiring changeover.

- KymProud to have been a regular during BNA's heyday. I'm still reachable by PM (email alerts) - dec 2016

Red Rider wrote:I have a flat bar bike and drop bar bike. Between each bike, there is a 13cm difference in the distance from the headset to the grips/hoods. How would you overcome this issue?

You need to consider the combined distance of reach from the saddle & seatpost. The 13cm difference from bar to the stem is only part of the equation. It's hard to isolate one factor of a bikes fit without considering others. Effectively, unless the frames are otherwise identical it's probably pointless sweating the differences too much.

Would it be reasonable to say that you prefer one bike over the other for different sort of rides? You probably have a slightly different stance between the flat bars and the drops and this will affect your subconscious reason perhaps for chosing one of the bikes over the other for a different type of ride. Neither stance may cause you discomfort over short rides - but you might be aware of one giving you grief over longer, sustained trips.

My earlier comment to the OP about probably having to swap to a shorter stem (amongst other things) going to a drop bar assumes the same frame is being used. It can be generalised that flat bars require a slightly more upright, less "racey" position and thus you don't lean forward quite as much.

- KymProud to have been a regular during BNA's heyday. I'm still reachable by PM (email alerts) - dec 2016

Red Rider wrote:I have a flat bar bike and drop bar bike. Between each bike, there is a 13cm difference in the distance from the headset to the grips/hoods. How would you overcome this issue?

You need to consider the combined distance of reach from the saddle & seatpost. The 13cm difference from bar to the stem is only part of the equation. It's hard to isolate one factor of a bikes fit without considering others. Effectively, unless the frames are otherwise identical it's probably pointless sweating the differences too much.

Would it be reasonable to say that you prefer one bike over the other for different sort of rides? You probably have a slightly different stance between the flat bars and the drops and this will affect your subconscious reason perhaps for chosing one of the bikes over the other for a different type of ride. Neither stance may cause you discomfort over short rides - but you might be aware of one giving you grief over longer, sustained trips.

My earlier comment to the OP about probably having to swap to a shorter stem (amongst other things) going to a drop bar assumes the same frame is being used. It can be generalised that flat bars require a slightly more upright, less "racey" position and thus you don't lean forward quite as much.

I'm isolating the difference of the distance of the headset to the grips/hoods as Walrus is doing a conversion (same frame). So obviously 13cm is quite a big change, there's only so much you can make up with the stem (my drop bar has a short stem). Just supplying the raw figures of relative differences between the two styles. I'm assuming here Walrus that you bought the size of drop bar bike that suits you best, and changing it to a flat bar will make it very hard to retain a similar geometry, just something to be aware of. Personally, the overall difference in distance from where my sit-bones perch to where my hands rest is only ~2cm shorter for my flat bar. They are still very different bikes in many other respects for different purposes.

It may be just as cost-effective selling what you have and buying a flat-bar bike that suits you nicely.

The Walrus wrote:I can't get on with drop bars at all. I don't feel in control and it stops me riding the bike!

So I'm exploring the idea of swapping to a decent flat bar set up. It seems to have been done many times so I'm assuming my bike can be changed as I've seen pictures of it completed.

I was wondering what kind of price my LBS might charge and what people here think is a good price.

I have a Specialized Elite

You will need new bars, new stem, new levers and new shifters. Possibly new cables and a few sundries like that. I paid an LBS to convert from flats to drops a few years a ago. From memory, I paid about $180. This included a service of some description, though. I don't recall exactly how that broke down - there might well have been a new chain in there and there was definitely a Travel Agent, so the sundry parts would have come to something. On top of that, I guess I spent around $120 on stem, bars and tape and another $50 or so on shifters (friction barcons - a bit of an acquired taste:) ) Brake levers I already had and the last set I got ran me $50 from memory. So, not a cheap undertaking. So that's, what, $450 in parts and labour. At a wild guess, you can probably throw another $100 onto the parts bill for indexed shifters of some description.

So if a shop came in at around $4-500 all up I probably wouldn't stick at that, assuming decent parts were specced.

If you have come from a bike with touring/cruising geometry to a bike with racing/sporting geometry, then the bike will have twitchier handling and a comparative lack of directional stability that could make it feel harder to control, regardless of the handlebar arrangement. This concerns the wheelbase, weight distribution, headtube angle/ fork rake/ trail, which is a different set of geometric issues from the bike fit question that others have discussed above.

If a frame with the same angles is available with a flat bar configuration, then a test ride would soon answer the question.

Just a thought, before you spend the money, as obviously I don't know your circumstances.

The Walrus wrote:I can't get on with drop bars at all. I don't feel in control and it stops me riding the bike!

So I'm exploring the idea of swapping to a decent flat bar set up. It seems to have been done many times so I'm assuming my bike can be changed as I've seen pictures of it completed.

I was wondering what kind of price my LBS might charge and what people here think is a good price.

I have a Specialized Elite

Why do you need to get down into the drops? unless you're sprinting or TTing there's nothing wrong with spending most of your time on the hoods with a little time on the flats when climbing or just want a change in position.

One of my friends had a similar problem when he first got a drop bar bike, until I showed him that you can press your brakes from the hoods (he had been changing down to the drops every time he wanted to brake).

I switched from a flatbar on the CX commuter to a shallow flared drop bar (Salsa Cowbell but you can also use a Zipp Service Course abr) on a 80mm 17 degree rise stem (Zipp Service Course) and getting into and staying in the drops is easy and comfortable. And way better than the flat bar setup.

silentbutdeadly wrote:I switched from a flatbar on the CX commuter to a shallow flared drop bar (Salsa Cowbell but you can also use a Zipp Service Course abr) on a 80mm 17 degree rise stem (Zipp Service Course) and getting into and staying in the drops is easy and comfortable. And way better than the flat bar setup.

silentbutdeadly wrote:I switched from a flatbar on the CX commuter to a shallow flared drop bar (Salsa Cowbell but you can also use a Zipp Service Course bar) on a 80mm 17 degree rise stem (Zipp Service Course) and getting into and staying in the drops is easy and comfortable. And way better than the flat bar setup.

What levers/shifters do you use?

SRAM Rival. Already had Rival FD and RD on it from when Monza went a bit mad on group pricing last year (sadly no longer). Bit of a struggle to find at a budget but Jensons came through eventually!!

The Walrus wrote:I can't get on with drop bars at all. I don't feel in control and it stops me riding the bike!

So I'm exploring the idea of swapping to a decent flat bar set up. It seems to have been done many times so I'm assuming my bike can be changed as I've seen pictures of it completed.

I was wondering what kind of price my LBS might charge and what people here think is a good price.

I have a Specialized Elite

Why do you need to get down into the drops? unless you're sprinting or TTing there's nothing wrong with spending most of your time on the hoods with a little time on the flats when climbing or just want a change in position.

One of my friends had a similar problem when he first got a drop bar bike, until I showed him that you can press your brakes from the hoods (he had been changing down to the drops every time he wanted to brake).

I never use the drops (which kind of underlines my point) but I understand that the hoods can be a good position where you can brake from, but I just don't like the hand position.

The Walrus wrote:What alternative bars could I consider apart from a flatbar?

I could add a second brake lever to the current set up (I remember those in the 70's). I generally ride my MTB with brakes ready to go. The hoods don't give me that security.

I have a set of moustache bars and quite like them. Another option I've heard of, but not personally tried, is trekking bars.

Thanks high_tea

Funny you should mention Moustache bars but I've just found them and been reading up, they look quite interesting. How long have you had them and what made you swap? Do you have a picture of your set up?

The Walrus wrote:I could add a second brake lever to the current set up (I remember those in the 70's).

Interupter levers. They are very different to the old 70s "safety levers" - They work very well as they pull the cable (push the housing actually) directly.

Trekking bars aka butterfly bars are less rigid than most other bars. I'm not convinced they are a good move for a number of reasons - greater flex at the braking position; brings your reach in very close; unable to angle the 'bar-end' position independently; and difficulty in fitting a handlebar bag.

Moustache bars are similar to North Road bars - like what I have on my Trek Metro commuter

The Walrus wrote:What alternative bars could I consider apart from a flatbar?

I could add a second brake lever to the current set up (I remember those in the 70's). I generally ride my MTB with brakes ready to go. The hoods don't give me that security.

I have a set of moustache bars and quite like them. Another option I've heard of, but not personally tried, is trekking bars.

Thanks high_tea

Funny you should mention Moustache bars but I've just found them and been reading up, they look quite interesting. How long have you had them and what made you swap? Do you have a picture of your set up?

I've had them for 9 months or so. I swapped because I use a WeeRide (top tube-mounted child seat) and wanted to get my hands further apart while keeping my hands parallel-ish with the top tube. An unexpected side-effect is that I got better braking, presumably due to better cable routing. I had bar-ends and separate brake levers, so I just transferred them across. Apart from having to shim the brake levers it was easy peasy.

I don't have a picture, but they're pretty similar to il padrone's North Roads, except the straight bit sweeps further back - roughly parallel to the top tube.

The Walrus wrote:What alternative bars could I consider apart from a flatbar?

I could add a second brake lever to the current set up (I remember those in the 70's). I generally ride my MTB with brakes ready to go. The hoods don't give me that security.

All my flat bar bikes use Ragley Carnegie bars in the +/-25mm rise version. Really, really comfortable. The only problem with them in respect to a road going bike is their width. Which makes road handling quite twitchy. Though I belive the carbon flat version is narrower...

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